Georgetown voters approve new SRO, everyone on ballot wins

Tuesday

May 15, 2018 at 7:03 AMMay 15, 2018 at 7:03 AM

Georgetown’s local election is over, and the town is getting a second school resource officer.

Voters Monday approved the $108,000 Proposition 2 1/2 tax levy override – with a vote of 324 in favor and 208 against – clearing the way for an officer to be stationed at Georgetown Middle High School.

"I am very happy and grateful the residents of Georgetown have once again supported the police department in a time of need," Police Chief Donald Cudmore said after the vote was announced. "The department is committed to providing our community, especially our students and school staff the safest environment possible."

The override will add about 8 cents to the tax rate, and the average home valued at $425,200 will see their tax bill increase about $34.

Currently there is one school resource officer, Officer Henry Olshefsky, who splits his time among the Perley School, Penn Brook Elementary School and Georgetown Middle High School. Most of the time, the middle high school was without police protection, Cudmore told voters at Town Meeting last week, where the override was approved and sent to the ballot.

The idea for a second SRO has been under consideration for a while, and demand for the new position spiked after both the Parkland, Fla., Valentine’s Day high school mass shooting and a suspected threat (which was deemed not credible) toward Penn Brook Elementary School.

During a School Safety Forum in March, many parents called for another school resource officer to be added, even if it meant a tax override.

"We live in complicated times and the fact GPD can sustain a comprehensive School Resource Officer Program as a result of this vote will continue that mission," Cudmore continued. "On behalf of the police department and all of the officers, thank you Georgetown!"

That second school resource officer will be Officer Laura Britton, who had already graduated from police academy, and she will be stationed at the Georgetown Middle High School while School Resource Officer Henry Olshefsky is stationed at Penn Brook.

Everyone’s a winner

In other election news, everyone on the ballot won because everyone ran unopposed.

Selectman Doug Dawes won re-election with 406 votes, and Charles "Kip" Durney III won a seat on the Board of Selectmen with 404 votes.

Durney is a newcomer to the board and said he’s looking forward to working with the other members of the board.

"I’ve known most of them for years, working on the Economic Development Committee, and the National Ave. project, to move that forward," Durney said. "Steve [Sadler, selectman] and I are working on a communications committee with the [public access] cable TV, to promote that as well."

Dawes, first elected to the board in 2015, said he’s grateful to the voters for putting their trust in him.

"I would also like to welcome a colleague, Kip Durney, to the board, and I look forward to working with him," Dawes said. "And I congratulate all the other people who were on the ballot."

Dawes said in his coming term he’d like to see the town move forward with economic development and figure out what to do with the money expected from the town’s two cannabis companies (and any future ones, with zoning for recreational marijuana businesses approved at Town Meeting.

"Economic development is something the town needs, and the cannabis money is not a great cure-all, but it helps," Dawes said. "And I want to get the Board of Selectmen to sit down and put together a plan of what we’re going to do with those moneys."

Dawes said he also wants to make sure the town’s first responders are properly equipped and praised the town’s vote in support of the override for the new SRO.

"I think that everybody that utilizes our public buildings has a right to have a reasonable sense of security," Dawes said. "It’s not just the students. There are the teachers, the staff, the custodial people, and there are visitors there."

Matt Martin opted not to run for re-election to the Planning Board, and his seat is going to Joanne Laut.

Peter Dion and Nicholas Lawler were elected to the Light Department, Walter Laut II and Kevin Moran were elected to the Georgetown Peabody Library Trustees, and David Schauer was elected to the Housing Authority.

No lines at the polls

There are 6,206 eligible voters in Georgetown, and only 541 of them showed up to the polls Monday.

That amounts to about an 8.7 percent turnout, which is pretty low, especially with a tax levy override on the ballot.

Now that he’s an elected official, Durney said he hopes to address Georgetown’s tendency for low voter turnout in its local elections.

"That’s probably one of the things we need to talk about, how to get higher numbers, considering we only had 541 today," Durney said. "The more involvement we can get, the better off we’ll be."